The block with which operating tables are equipped is intended to raise the lower back of a patient lying on the operating table to facilitate certain surgical interventions which require a noteworthy stretching of the tissues at the level of the pelvis. This block is currently positioned in the medial region of the operating table. It is adjusted by the operating room personnel after positioning of the patient on the operating table.
Current surgical methods increasingly require the use of medical imaging means during operations. There is therefore the requirement that numerous devices must be installed around and under the operating table which leads to the necessity of reducing as much as possible the bulk of the operating table and in particular its side frames or uprights. Consequently, the block and especially its adjustment mechanism must be as reduced in bulk as possible. The solutions known to date for the movement of the block are not very satisfactory. In particular, it is known to provide blocks formed by an inflatable bag, the height of the block being adjusted by means of the amount of air introduced into the inflatable bag. When the bag is not completely inflated to obtain an intermediary elevation of the patient, the block is too soft which prevents satisfactory immobilization of the patient.
Also known are blocks whose adjustment mechanism comprises a rack integral with the block, the rack cooperating with a pinion gear driven by a motor integral with the table's platform.
Such an arrangement is relatively bulky because of the rack's displacement course, the rack passing over the table's side frames under the platform when the block is in the retracted position.
It would therefore be advantageous to provide an operating table equipped with a mobile block whose adjustment mechanism is not bulky.